


strawberry and lavender

by TheTiredOwl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Difference, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Baking, Bottom Bucky Barnes, Commander Rogers, Daddy Kink, Declarations Of Love, Flower Language, Hell Yeah Bottom Bucky Valentine's Exchange 2021, Knotting, Love Letters, M/M, Mating Bites, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Bucky Barnes, SHIELD Agent Bucky Barnes, Scenting, Top Steve Rogers, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:20:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29425911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTiredOwl/pseuds/TheTiredOwl
Summary: Commander Rogers and agent Barnes form a tight bond inside their workplace relationship. But a slight argument clouds the joy just a few days before Valentine's Day.For the HYBB Valentine's Exchange 2021
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 20
Kudos: 200
Collections: Hell Yeah Bottom Bucky





	strawberry and lavender

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HaniTrash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaniTrash/gifts).



> For the wonderful HaniTrash whose fics I deeply admire and bought me so much joy. I literally jumped up when I got you as my gift recipient <3  
>   
> All my thanks go out to [kickflaw](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kickflaw) as one wonderful Beta <3

  
“Ugh…” With a groan, the omega lands facedown on the table, his legs deliciously spread. Slick is already running down the inside of his muscular thighs, so thick and inviting Steve to bite there. Just a little bite into the spot where he knows Bucky is ticklish. He doesn’t however, merely holds his hips to the table with one of his hands. The other slows down, giving his own dick a slight squeeze exactly where the knot wants to form. 

“You ready for your daddy to take you?” Steve growls and feels the shudder go through the omega’s body. Bucky spreads his legs a bit farther, throwing him a look over his shoulder. His eyes are shimmering with want and this is enough confirmation for Steve to finally drive home with a grin.  
  
They've known each other for a year now. Director Fury had freshly assigned James Buchanan Barnes (“Call me Bucky, please”) to Commander Steve Rogers for a mission, and quickly after Steve had learned of the omega’s capabilities. Bucky is smart, sassy, beautiful and furious in battle. He wears his scent like a weapon. Soon Steve couldn’t get enough of the hint of cinnamon and cloves, even masked by the neutral scent-blockers he wears when he is in the office. But on the battlefield it was almost overpowering. It didn’t take long for them to fall into bed after their missions. Bucky is …  
  
“Perfect,” Steve groans as he slides into him, into the tight, wet heat of his ass. A fresh wave of slick eases the passage and he hears Bucky sigh. “Perfect around my cock, baby.”  
  
“Only for you, daddy … _ah_ .” Bucky moans, twists and looks up at him with those big blue eyes full of lust. “Please!”  
  
“Please what?” Steve asks before setting a deep, lazy rhythm, gripping Bucky’s hips tightly. 

“Please, faster.” 

And who is he to deny such a request? Accompanied by Bucky’s groans, he fucks into him with sharp thrusts and laughs hoarsely as Bucky cries suddenly out, clawing at the edge of the table. He's found that sweet spot inside him. Bucky holds fast, remembering their rule, but still Steve decides it can’t hurt to remind him.  
  
“Don’t you dare touch yourself, you hear me?” The order comes as sharp as his next thrust. “That sweet little cock of yours, that’s for daddy to touch, hm?” For an omega Bucky is not small. But still his dick gets almost completely swallowed by Steve’s big fist as he draws his hand around him, already weeping at the tip. “Daddy will take care of you.” His thumb caresses the tip, smearing the leaking precome around as he closes his fist around him. Squeezing gently in time with his thrusts, it doesn't take long for the omega to come. With a debased groan, Bucky spills into Steve’s fist and his walls clench around the hard cock inside him.  
  
It’s only the beginning for Steve. He feels his knot beginning to form, catching at the rim of Bucky’s hole and with a deep thrust he shoves it inside. Bucky feels divine. So hot, so wet, so tight around him, milking him. Stars explode behind his eyes as he drives home a last time and shoots his seed inside Bucky’s ass. He feels the omega coming again as they’re locked together and his knot presses against Bucky’s prostate. With a sigh Steve leans his sweaty forehead between the omega’s shoulder blades, pressing feather-light kisses against his spine.  
  
Bucky breathes heavily for a few minutes and then mewls softly. “Hey,” he says, sounding so small but happy.  
  
“Hey,” Steve answers just to humour him. They didn’t exactly think this position through, and it takes some effort to draw his chair to him with one foot whilst locked inside the omega. Finally, he gets it into position and gently draws Bucky with him into his lap, so they can at least sit as the knot takes its time to deflate.  
  
Bucky snuggles his back against Steve’s chest, turning slightly to kiss him on the cheek. “That was…” he breathes, trying to find his words.  
  
“I know,” Steve says smiling. It’s always good between them. Really good.  
  
But it shouldn’t be.  
  
Bucky is young, barely twenty-eight and Steve is already counting the grey hairs in his beard. Soon the omega will find another lover, someone younger. A better match. That Bucky hasn’t already, after almost a year, is still amazing to Steve. What they have is an affair. A good one but, like all flings, it will end someday. Steve has to grudgingly acknowledge that he doesn’t want it to end but it would be better for Bucky. Right?  
  
Still he can’t help himself and nuzzles Bucky’s neck, licking the salty pearls of sweat. The omega shivers in his lap and then laughs huskily.  
  
“Can we now discuss the target, sir?” Bucky asks and Steve groans as the omega playfully clenches around him.  
  
“While you’re still stuffed full with my dick?” He grins as his cock gives an interested twitch but he feels the knot softening, going down.  
  
“It’s a good mission, Steve,” Bucky begins. “I’m perfect for this. That mob boss is looking for young, unmated omegas precisely like me. It’ll be a cakewalk.”  
  
This is what Steve had feared. Bucky on a silver platter for some dangerous mob boss to devour. He would be the perfect honeytrap and that’s the problem. Intel said that the mob boss is paranoid, already expecting some kind of bait. And then there are the hot pangs of jealousy already gnawing on his mind.  
  
“No,” Steve decides. “It’s too dangerous.”  
  
Bucky whips his head around to look at him with a furious glimmer in his eyes. “I’m one of SHIELD's best agents. Director Fury has said-...”  
  
“I don’t care what Fury has said,” Steve growls. “We already lost one agent to this mission.”  
  
“But…,” he begins again.  
  
“No, Bucky.” That stubborn omega. “You won’t go on that mission. There are tons of others which need your help.” Other missions that are less dangerous and don’t require a honeytrap. _And I don’t want to lose you._  
  
The omega huffs and wriggles in his lap until Steve’s now soft cock slips from him. “That your last word? Sir?” He asks, and the anger in his voice is apparent even as he tries to keep his expression level.  
  
“Yes, Agent Barnes.” Steve hates himself for being so formal now. He wants to say that he can’t stand the image of some sleazebag mob boss touching the omega. Wants to say that Bucky belongs to him. That he can’t stand to lose him if something goes wrong. But he says nothing.  
  
The playfulness of some minutes ago has turned cold. Bucky scrambles up and away from him, pulling up his pants, and Steve can barely catch himself from reaching out to him. If Bucky is angry, then he should be allowed to. He’ll come to his senses eventually.  
  
“I can dismiss myself, sir,” Bucky tells him and then he’s gone so fast, slamming the door behind him and Steve sighs.  
  


****

  
The next day, Bucky is nowhere to be found at SHIELD’s headquarters. No hint of cinnamon, no cloves. Nothing. “Agent Barnes is on leave,” Natasha tells Steve as he runs into her in his search for the omega.  
  
“Oh,” Steve simply says. Bucky was irritable the other day. But this?  
  
“James seemed very agitated when he requested it. What did you say to him?” Natasha asks with a raised brow. Steve knows that the red-haired beta woman and Bucky are close, that they’re friends, going out for drinks sometimes and laughing together in the office or on the battlefield.  
  
“Nothing. I…” Natasha’s brow raises higher and Steve sighs. “A mission detail.”  
  
“You didn’t want him to go, huh?”  
  
“No, I didn’t,'' Steve says and braces himself for a lecture from Nat. They’re not exactly friends, not like her and Bucky. Maybe Bucky ranted to her the other day and now she wants to poke around. Just to see what hurt her friend.  
  
“Hm,” Natasha merely hums, cocks her head and crosses her arms in front of her chest. She stares at him silently for a while and then says: “Good. That mission would’ve been too dangerous. Fury already decided on someone else. Nice flowers, by the way.”  
  
Steve lets out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding but sucks it right back in at her last words. “What flowers?”  
  
“In your office. Didn’t you see?”  
  
No, he didn’t see. He hasn't been to his office yet, searching for Bucky instead. Natasha gifts him one of her rather rare smiles instead of a smirk and saunters off, vanishing behind a corner.  
  
As Steve opens the door to his office, he’s greeted with the lingering smells of cinnamon and flowers. On the desk is a small vase with a bouquet of tiny blue flowers (scilla, he identifies) and a red gerbera with a black center. Where did the sender, who is unmistakably Bucky, find these, he wonders. They’re commonly found in Europe and in early spring, but it’s still cold outside in early February. Steve smiles, touching the soft petals with his fingertip, and almost fails to notice the small letter sitting beside the vase.  
  
_Steve,_

_I’m sorry for yesterday. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I know you were right. Maybe you wanted to protect me even if it was unnecessary under different circumstances. I took a few days off but I’ll be back soon. Don’t worry, I’ll see you in a little while._

_I hope you can forgive me for being an ass._

_Bucky_ _  
_  
Steve smiles at Bucky’s chicken-scratch handwriting and the tiny heart he drew under his letter. He’s already forgiven. Hell, Steve should be the one to apologize. At least for being so formal at the end of their conversation. Bucky deserves better.  
  
The rest of the day passes in relative calm but Steve finds himself missing the omega terribly.

****

Two days later he’s greeted by another bouquet of flowers in his office. It’s purple anemones and two larkspurs with another letter attached.  
  
_Steve,_ _  
_ _  
_ _I miss you. I’m already bored to tears after three days of leave. My sister gave me books to read but I can’t concentrate like this. You must already know that I’m in preheat which means it was a good decision that you didn’t let me go on that mission. It’s a bit early, I know._ _  
_ _  
_ _I miss you._ _  
_ _  
_ _Bucky_ _  
_ _  
_ _P.S.: Rilke wrote that you should be patient with everything uncertain in your heart. But I trust you. I trust you so much._ _  
_ _  
_ _P.P.S.: He also wrote that_ _only someone who is ready for everything, who doesn't exclude any experience, even the most incomprehensible, will live the relationship with another person as something alive and will himself sound the depths of his own being._  
  
No, Steve hadn't known that he was in preheat. He didn’t want to pry into the personal affairs of the omega. But suddenly it makes sense that Bucky was so cranky that day. And so needy too. He had rubbed himself all over Steve the last time they were together, until he couldn’t take it anymore and devoured the omega right there on his desk. The following fight was less pretty but still Steve smiles at this memory. He had wanted to write Bucky back or at least to call him, but work had demanded his full attention.  
  
He raises the letter to his nose and inhales the faint scent of cinnamon and cloves on the paper. It smells so good.  
  
“Someone has an open heart, huh?”  
  
Steve slams the letter back on the desk and whips around to see Natasha standing there in the open doorway. She’s cocking her head and grins at his dismay.  
  
“What?” Steve asks.  
  
“The larkspur,” Natasha says and points at the bouquet. “They mean an open heart and attachment. Don’t let this one get away.” She winks at him and is gone as silently as she arrived.  
  
Steve huffs in annoyance but there is something else blooming in his heart. What is Bucky really trying to say? The flowers, the letters. It’s like the omega’s courting him. Steve pulls out his phone and searches for Bucky’s number. But after a few missed calls he gives up. Maybe Bucky is busy with … with what? With his heat, his mind provides. Bucky might be so ardent with his flower language entirely because of the heat. But that would be a first. They had shared some heats before and Bucky was never more or less loving. Could it be that the omega had developed feelings?  
  
Steve’s heart is suddenly pounding in his chest. He wants him. Wants to take Bucky into his arms and never let go. But still, he feels too old for him. Surely Bucky deserves someone younger than Steve. But what if _he_ is who the omega wants? Desire is slowly rising inside him. The image of Bucky lying in his bed is burning inside his mind. Maybe the omega is occupied with pleasuring himself right now. Crying out for him. For Steve.  
  
He can’t deny him this, Steve realizes. And he doesn’t want to deny himself. With a glance at his calendar, he laughs quietly. It’s February 13th. Tomorrow, he decides. Tomorrow will be the day.

  
  
****  
  


Baking a cake for Valentine’s Day sounds like a good idea. He has never baked for someone before, let alone for himself, so he searches for an easy recipe. And ends up with two both burnt and undercooked red velvet cakes. The frosting is clumpy and he throws everything in the trash.  
  
After that disaster he tries a simple recipe for cookies, this time taking the time to read the comments on the baking homepage. It seems easy enough to put flour, powdered sugar and the strawberry and lavender tea leaves together with some butter and an egg yolk. But the doubts come crushing back as it all leaves him with a crumbling dough. He simply wants to create something for Bucky. How hard can it be? But after rubbing the butter into the flour mixture for a few minutes he gets a sticky dough that seems right for cookies. He cuts the dough into little hearts after flouring and rolling it into a thin disk and then they’re finally going into the oven. 

Steve sets the timer and waits, this time watching the clock on his phone like a hawk. As the timer goes off and the cookies come out of the oven, they smell at least alright. They look good, a little pale but not burnt. Steve can’t wait for them to cool down and he tastes one still-warm cookie. It practically melts in his mouth. The faint lavender adds an odd herbal note that’s not unpleasant under the strawberry taste.  
  
But will it be enough for Bucky?  
  
Steve also gets a bouquet of roses and some chocolates. For the umpteenth time he asks himself if it is the right decision? Going to Bucky, fulfilling their desires, and then what? They’ll have to talk, but Steve already knows what he really wants. He wants Bucky, who helps him to feel so young again and yet not childish with all that stuff he bought. Bucky who helps him be himself, who helps him laugh and enjoy life. There wasn’t much before Bucky, he lived from day to day until the omega came into his life.  
  
But is this what Bucky wants too?  
  
Uncertainty gnaws on him as he stands before the massive door to the omega’s apartment. He rings, one time, two times, then the door wrenches open and Bucky’s scent of warm cinnamon and spicy cloves hugs him.  
  
“Steve.” It’s Bucky, freshly showered, who breathes Steve’s name with a lopsided grin. He throws himself at the alpha, who catches him easily with his free arm. “There you are.”  
  
Steve holds him fast in his arm, presses the smaller omega against his chest. “Couldn’t let you wait for so long, huh?” He says and inhales Bucky’s scent greedily. He smells so good under the overlaying scent of shampoo and body wash. Ready. Bucky’s body is so warm and hot even as his long hair is drawing wet stripes over the collar and back of his red shirt. “Has your heat already started?”  
  
Bucky shakes his head against Steve's chest but is simultaneously scenting him. He presses his nose against the scent gland, so near where a mating bite would be. “Any minute now,” the omega whispers and Steve nods.  
  
“Then let's get inside.” And he closes the door after them.  
  
Inside Bucky’s apartment it is as tidy and cozy as ever. Steve has been there a few times, he knows his way around and leads them into the living room.  
  
“These are for me?” Bucky rightly assumes, looking at the roses. “They’re beautiful.”  
  
_Not as beautiful as you,_ Steve wants to say but instead smiles and hands him the flowers.  
  
Bucky goes to search for a vase and comes back with some earthenware which he has filled with water. After he puts the bouquet down on the windowsill where the red of the roses is illuminated by the sunset, Bucky turns to Steve. “You certainly know how to charm a guy, Steve,” he tells him with a big smile.  
  
“Oh, I got you cookies and chocolates too.” Steve almost forgot. Bucky looks positively giddy when Steve pulls the box of chocolates out of the tiny paper bag, and then the tin with the heart-shaped cookies. “For later,” Steve promises and the omega grins. The grin falls a bit when Steve continues to speak. “Bucky, we have to talk.”  
  
“Okay?” Suddenly the omega seems unsure. “Can I get you something to drink first?”  
  
“No, I’m fine,” Steve tells him, looking at Bucky. “I simply want to know what you’re expecting out of this.”  
  
“What I’m expecting…?” Bucky repeats and shakes his head. “Steve, I thought that was clear. I may be not the most proficient person when it comes to flower language but … I thought the letters were quite clear.”  
  
“You want a…”  
  
“A relationship, yeah.” Bucky opens his arms slightly and smiles. “And I don’t think you showed up on Valentine’s day just to break it off with me.”  
  
“Ever observant, huh?” Steve laughs, the heavy feeling in his chest lifting, letting him breathe easier. “You’re really sure?”  
  
“Steve, we’ve been fucking for a year now. And I spend almost all of my free time with you anyway.”  
  
“You don’t have much free time.”  
  
“That’s beside the point. I know what makes you tick, what you like and that the little fight we had was almost entirely because of your jealousy.”  
  
Steve scratches his neck in a sheepish gesture. “And also because it was too dangerous.”  
  
“You didn’t know I was nearing my heat,” Bucky says slyly. “But yes, I want that relationship with you. Only you. I want you in my life full-time.” And with these words the omega opens his arms for Steve. “If you want…?” he whispers, sounding a bit unsure and Steve hurries to engulf him in his arms where he belongs.  
  
“I want that too, Bucky,” he simply says before he presses a kiss to the shell of Bucky’s ear. With the omega’s relieved sigh, the dam breaks.  
  
They kiss gently at first, no more than a brush of their lips, but Bucky deepens it quickly. He licks like a kitten with the tip of his tongue against Steve’s lips, demanding entrance and Steve grants him this wish. Their tongues dance together for a little while, until they've both had enough. Steve lets his hand grab the omega’s ass and Bucky makes a little jump, wrapping his long, muscular legs around Steve’s hips. Through their clothes, their already hard cocks rub against each other and Steve hisses.  
  
“Bedroom?” he suggests.  
  
“Bedroom, daddy,” Bucky pants.  
  
Steve knows the way to said room by heart and carries his omega, who is so hot he’s almost burning up. The heat must have started by now. Everything in him screams to take this omega apart, throw him down on the bed and ravish him. But instead he lays Bucky down tenderly.  
  
“I love you, baby,” he whispers into Bucky’s ear, prying his red shirt off of him. “Should have told you earlier.”  
  
“Love you too, Steve,” Bucky murmurs and helps Steve strip off the omega’s black pants. He isn't wearing any underpants, and his hard cock is already leaking.  
  
Now the omega lies naked under him and ready to be ravished. Steve still takes his time to undress, pushing open the buttons of his jeans, letting Bucky watch with hunger and lust apparent in his beautiful silvery-blue eyes.  
  
Finally they’re both naked and Bucky reaches up to him. “Make love to me, daddy,” he whispers those magic words,his husky voice making Steve’s blood curl in pleasure. And Bucky turns on his stomach, pushing his ass up in the air, _presenting_ _for Steve_. “Take me.”  
  
Steve needs exactly three seconds to comply. His fingers touch Bucky’s hole with tenderness, taking up the slick, pushing it back into the omega’s ass. With two fingers he breaches Bucky’s entrance, feeling the muscle tense there at first and then relax. He’s ready, his mind screams. _Take him, fuck him now and breed him!_ Steve gives his impatient dick a squeeze, massaging it a few times with Bucky’s slick on his fingers.  
  
Bucky keens as the thick, blunt tip of Steve’s cock breaches his entrance. So tight, so hot. Steve feels like he’s in heaven with Bucky so tight and wet around him. His omega. His Bucky. He pushes, at first tentative and then becoming more and more demanding. It doesn’t take long for his omega to come, the first orgasm taking him by surprise and Steve laughs quietly, huskily. “Everything alright, baby?”  
  
Bucky nods and then moans in time with Steve’s resuming thrusts. Steve feels the heat and wetness of Bucky’s hole clench and unclench around his cock, milking him. His dick gives a twitch and his knot begins to fill. Faster and faster he thrusts inside and finally, with a debased groan, he empties inside his omega’s ass, feeling Bucky coming a second time.  
  
After a minute of pressing butterfly kisses along Bucky’s spine, Steve maneuvers them so that they lay side by side on the pillows and with a sigh, he pulls a blanket over their shaking bodies. His knot still pulses inside Bucky’s ass and with his left hand he caresses his love’s belly. _Hoping it will catch?_ His treacherous mind provides, but he knows it would be too early. Bucky might not be on suppressants but he’s still on birth control as far as he knows.  
  
Bucky sighs and cuddles closer to him but they both know that this is just the beginning. After his knot deflates, Steve brings his omega something to drink and the sweets. His heart takes a leap inside his chest as Bucky chooses the cookies first, nibbling at them with a smile on his beautiful face. He looks radiant, if tired.  
  
“These are heavenly, Steve,” Bucky whispers after munching the second cookie, already grabbing a third. “You really made them yourself?”  
  
Steve nods and with his fingertips, he gently strokes Bucky’s neck where a mating bite would go. Only time will tell what will become of them.  
  


****

  
_A year later…_  
  
They stand side by side in the kitchen, the early sun of a cold February morning is shining inside Bucky’s apartment. There’s flour and sugar dusting the surface of the kitchen counters and it smells of tea, cinnamon and cloves. Steve bows his head to press a kiss to Bucky’s neck right where his mating bite sits. It was a conscious choice, done out of love for this man who continues to be amazing. Bucky swipes some of the cookie dough and snickers when Steve gently bites his earlobe.  
  
Their bond is a strong one that will hold, Steve is sure of it. And Bucky loves him, shows him that every day, every night.  
  
Together they cut the cookies and decorate them with red icing and sprinkles. It’s their Valentine’s Day and they will celebrate it with tea cookies and love.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading <3  
> There's also a recipe for Steve's cookies, if you want it, I'll post it.  
>   
> Please consider leaving kudos and comments. I promise I will love you for that<3  
> If you have suggestions or just want to talk to me, I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thetiredowl) :)


End file.
